


Breaking the Silence

by CreativeChemist



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Post-Cell Games Saga
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-15 06:20:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16928076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CreativeChemist/pseuds/CreativeChemist
Summary: When Gohan didn’t return home one night, Piccolo demanded to know why.





	Breaking the Silence

_“Gohan… I want you to know, I am so proud of you.”_

_“D-dad? What are you—?”_

_He pressed two fingers against his forehead._

_“Tell your mother I had to do this because I love her. Because I love you.”_

_He touched the monster with his other hand and smiled._

_“Goodbye, my son.”_

_No…_

_No…!_

_In an instant, they were gone._

_“N-NO, COME BACK!”_

_The wound festering on his forehead, the cut searing by his lip, the bruises howling through his bones? None of those hurt as much as his heart in that moment._

_He collapsed onto his hands and knees, pounded the rock with his fists until his knuckles grew white and red, choked on dry sobs. The whole world was spinning. He couldn’t breathe. Tears mixed with sweat and blood rained down one by one._

_He curled into himself. He couldn’t bear to look at anyone. Not when he was responsible for letting Cell get away._

_Please… Come back._

_Dad didn’t come back._

_Not this time._

* * *

 

“—han…” 

_I’m so sorry…_

“Go—n…”

_I’m so sorry, Dad… It’s all my fault._

“Gohan.”

_It’s all my fault you’re not here with—!_

“Gohan!”

“Huh…?”

His eyes snapped open, and right above him was…

“D-dad…?”

He sat up and rubbed the grit out of his eyes. Where was he again? The sky was dark but it showed traces of green, yellow, and orange. He brushed his hand across the ground. Grass. Grass dampened with dew. Black tree trunks stood in the distance.

“Kid, what are you doing out here by yourself?”

He could recognize that voice anywhere.

“Oh, M-Mister Piccolo! How long have y’been here?”

“Long enough.” Mister Piccolo crossed his arms and grunted. “I know what you’ve been doing, Gohan, and I want you to tell me why.”

Gohan flinched and hugged his knees to his chest. “W-what do you mean? I haven’t—A-ah!”

Before he knew it, he was on his feet and standing on nothing, dangling by his shirt collar.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about, Gohan. We both know you’ve been leaving your house at night!”

Mister Piccolo’s breath struck hot against his forehead.

“I… I…”

“Don’t you know how worried your mother would be if she knew you were missing? Well? Do you?”

“But I—”

“No ‘buts’!”

He hit the ground with a thud, heart jumping into his throat.

Why was Mister Piccolo so upset?

“M-Mister—”

“Would you just—? Ugh… Listen.” Mister Piccolo huffed and turned away. “Gohan, you know how proud of you I am, right?”

“You’re…”

_Gohan… I want you to know, I am so proud of you._

Tears caught in his eyes, threatening to retrace paths down his cheeks.

“Y-you’re proud of me?”

Mister Piccolo looked over his shoulder and nodded. “None of us could’ve done what you did out there on that day, kid. You saved us all.”

“But…”

_The sun shone upon a vacant battlefield—one stained red and purple and littered with rock shards. Dry copper sat on his tongue. He should’ve been happy that the monster was gone, that the Earth and all his friends were safe, but…_

_Dad._

_All he felt was numbness constricting him, tighter and tighter._

“My dad…”

Why couldn’t he stop shaking?

“M-my dad, he—”

He clenched his fists. Don’t cry… Don’t cry…

“I-it’s all my fault my dad is dead!”

Silence. Nothing but his voice ringing off the treetops.

“If— If only I’d killed Cell when Dad told me to, then Dad wouldn’t have had to—!”

Something large and warm touched his head. “Gohan… I mean it when I say this, but none of us would’ve been able to defeat Cell.”

A piece of white fabric, soft and entwined with a spring water scent, draped over his shoulders.

“Your father… While I’m still angry he had you take his place, your father knew that, too.”

Gohan looked up. Mister Piccolo was smiling.

Wait… He was smiling?

“If there’s one thing I know about your father, it’s that he wouldn’t want you to blame yourself for what happened.”

“But, Mister Piccolo…” Gohan folded his hands in his lap and traced circles across one thumb with the other. “I could’ve… I could’ve killed Cell when I had the chance. But instead, I just stood there and laughed at him!”

_The memory unfolded in a monochrome panorama._

_“Gohan, what are you waiting for? Kill him now!”_

_The corner of his lip bent into a smirk. “Right now? No… I think I’m going to wait a bit longer. I want to make him suffer more!”_

_It tasted so sweet. That monster’s fear. How it fizzed on his tongue, along the sides, underneath, down to the tip. He wanted more._

_More…_

_More…_

_More…_

_He craved nothing more than reducing the so-called ‘perfect being’ to scraps of skin and blood. Sure, that monster could regenerate…but that just meant he could enjoy gouging his nails into Cell’s flesh over and over and over and—_

“I-I couldn’t control it!” Gohan hid his face in his hands, shoulders slumping like deflated balloons. “I let it control me, and…and it cost my dad everything!”

“Gohan, listen to me.” Mister Piccolo drew him into his lap. “What your father did was not because of anything you did or didn’t do. It was because of who you are.” He paused for a moment. “Why do you think I saved your life when the Saiyans attacked?”

“Because… Because you care about me?”

Mister Piccolo’s body heat grew tenfold. “W-well, I never said _that_ , but interpret it however you want.”

Gohan couldn’t help but chuckle. Mister Piccolo was terrible at hiding his feelings.

“So, kid, let me ask you this: Why do you think your father sacrificed himself to save you?”

“Because he cares about me?”

The answer… It was the same!

_Gohan… I had to do this because I love you._

_Because I love you._

“Yeah… Because he loves me!”

Why was it so hard to see that before?

“Couldn’t have said it better myself, kid.”

Something stirred within Gohan’s chest. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but it was warm and yellow, like the sun rays spilling across the horizon and wiping away the night. A piece of his heart that had grown damp with silence was rekindled, given songs to sing against the forces of guilt and hatred. Though it would probably take months, or maybe even years, for that voice to grow from a whisper to a shout, he would still cling to the hope that it would revive into an eternal flame, burning bright for all to see.

“Thank you, Mister Piccolo.”

Gohan reclined against Mister Piccolo’s chest and watched the purple clouds crawl across the sky. Somewhere beyond those clouds, Dad was probably having the time of his life, exploring heaven with a smile that could ignite a thousand suns.

Including his own son.

_Thank you, Dad. Thank you for everything._


End file.
